Recruitment

The year was 1915; the Great War was one year in, and the initial fervor and passion of the participating states had already begun to wane. It was not the ‘splendid little war’ that was promised, nor were the soldiers

Following its seizure of power in 1917, the new Soviet government needed to establish itself quickly in the face of opposition from the so-called “Whites” — anti-Bolshevik elements of Russian society, backed by an amalgam of foreign powers — as